Ireland Votes on Whether to Give the Prime Minister a Third Term

By EAMON QUINN

Published: May 25, 2007

Irish voters went to the polls on Thursday in a national ballot that will decide whether Prime Minister Bertie Ahern secures a third successive term after 10 years in office.

Mr. Ahern, 55, who campaigned on sustaining Irish prosperity and on stabilizing peace in Northern Ireland, has said the election will probably be his last.

But the outcome of the election remained close since, political analysts said, Ireland's 3.1 million voters might use their ballots as a referendum on the leadership of Mr. Ahern himself.

Mr. Ahern is known here as the Teflon Taoiseach (pronounced TEE-shak), an alliterative English-Irish word play on the official name of the prime minister's office, reflecting his ability to survive unscathed from personal and political controversies.

In a major election campaign theme, Mr. Ahern focused on cementing the peace agreement in Northern Ireland, where he worked with Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain in persuading former bitter political rivals this month to share power in a local government in Belfast.

In an unusual gesture of support, Mr. Blair invited Mr. Ahern to address the British Parliament during the election campaign. On Irish television, Mr. Ahern's Fianna Fail Party also broadcast endorsements from Mr. Blair and former President Bill Clinton, praising Mr. Clinton's role in negotiations that led to the 1998 Good Friday peace accords in Northern Ireland.

But, in public debate early on in the campaign, new questions surfaced about the circumstances surrounding Mr. Ahern's purchase of his Dublin home over a decade ago from a businessman. At that time Mr. Ahern was finance minister, and questions about the purchase overshadowed his party's re-election efforts.

''It had a dreadful effect on Fianna Fail's campaign,'' said Sean Donnelly, a leading pollster, who did polling work for the party in this election.

On Dublin streets on Thursday, some voters lauded Mr. Ahern's political skills of survival. ''He's got the common touch,'' said Frances Langley, 63, a retired receptionist.

But Laura Macnaughton, 60, a radiographer at a Dublin hospital who had earlier cast her ballot for the opposition Labor Party, said Mr. Ahern's explanations about the payments for his house purchase were not credible. Nonetheless, she said, ''He has got away with it.''

The main opposition bloc of Fine Gael, led by Enda Kenny, and the Labor parties, which between them won 52 of the 166 seats in Parliament in the last election in 2002, campaigned on public health questions -- like overcrowded hospitals -- and on other quality-of-life issues like long commuting times.

Mr. Ahern's Fianna Fail, which won 81 seats in the 2002 election, has ruled with the support of the eight seats held by the Progressive Democrats, a right-of-center party.

Vote counting will start Friday morning under a complex system that can take several days.

Correction: May 30, 2007, Wednesday
Because of an editing error, an article on Friday about elections in Ireland referred incorrectly to televised endorsements for Bertie Ahern's campaign for re-election as prime minister. The broadcasts had Prime Minister Tony Blair and former President Bill Clinton praising Mr. Ahern's role in negotiations that led to the 1998 Good Friday peace accords in Northern Ireland. The endorsements did not praise Mr. Clinton's role in the talks.